Soccer birthday: As Rangers current manager in Scotland, Ally McCoist finds himself in charge in unprecedented turbulent times. He turns 50 today.

Best guess, this job will be like the presidency in our land, where it he ages about three years for every one actual year during his time in charge.

Fabio Aurelio turns 33 and John Arne Riise 32.

Big Important Stories of the Day: D.C. United’s Branko Boskovic (pictured from Sunday) finally did what the men in charge around RFK Stadium brought him here to do: make a difference. We may eventually look back at his goal Sunday in the nation’s capital as the one that delivered playoff soccer to the Black and Red for the first time since 2007. Indeed, the team’s playoff footing looks more stable today than it has in weeks.

That has a lot to do with the struggles of Houston and Columbus, but credit to United for taking care of business.

RASNoD (Random American Soccer Name of the Day): John Doyle

*Ahead on the blog today:Monday stuff. Which means MLS Player of the Week (some tough choices to make there) and MLS Team of the Week, plus the Monday “Meh” list of the slightly overrated in soccer.

We’ll also look at Federico Higuain’s decreasing output with the Columbus Crew. Plus, we’ll begin zeroing in on some of the MLS post-season awards.

Twitter daps:

What you should watch on TV today:

Slim pickin’s today. If you have the beIN Sport platforms, you may witness the Blackpool-Huddersfield clash at 2:40 p.m. ET. So, congratulations.

And if you have beIN SPORT en Espanol, even better! You may watch the Deportivo la Coruna-Sevilla clash at 3:25 p.m. ET.

And the answer to your next question is: “No, we also had no idea there was a beIN en Espanol. But we’re glad there is.

If the MLS playoffs started today (following 29 rounds):

Eastern Conference

(Wildcard round)

Houston vs. D.C. United

(Second round)

Sporting Kansas City vs. Wildcard winner

Chicago vs. New York Red Bulls

Western Conference:

(Wildcard round)

Seattle vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

(Second Round)

San Jose vs. Wildcard winner

Real Salt Lake vs. L.A. Galaxy

PST background noise while blogging today: Newest ep of Being Liverpool. And we’ll probably start re-watching first series of Homeland, in anticipation of new greatness to come.

We’ll leave you with this: I know all fans around United aren’t happy that United is struggling to get these points lately. But c’mon! They are getting the points. That’s what this time is all about, finding a way through. Because that’s how it will be in the playoffs.

Steve, I’d also love to get your take on Tottenham’s start to the season. I watched Spurs vs QPR yesterday and it looked to me like Spurs had plenty of quality but lacked energy and crispness. I wonder whether AVB has coached them into passivity and confusion?

Over-thinking the tactics and lineup (Bale at LB) + general lack of confidence (how COULD Spurs be very confidence right now) = a team that looks too contemplative and unsure. Not sure how much a home win over QPR will help (esp when you could make the argument that Spurs were second best on the day.) And what are the tactics? What’s the offensive plan? B/c while I admittedly did not watch the game in “study” mode, exactly, I sure saw a lot of long ball.

Yup. QPR definitely looked the better team most of the game. I may be an inveterate homer, but I thought Spurs looked much more fluid and dangerous vs Lazio when they were running a lot of their offense through Bale and Dempsey. Of course, I’ve seen player ratings that would suggest others saw it differently and Dempsey was subbed out of that one, too, so what do I know? Thanks for the response.